The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD) organizes an international conference every year to discuss and reflect on the state of local participatory democracy in the world. The Conference is organized by a local or regional government that holds the presidency of the network, and defines the main theme of the event according to their priorities in this area. 

This event brings together local, regional and national elected officials, facilitators, academics and political activists. These seminars consist of lectures, panel discussions around specific issues, parallel exchange sessions and multiple parallel meetings between participants.

The technical secretariat is launching a call for cities interested in organizing the 22th  Conference in 2023. In 2021 the 20th conference is hosted by the Municipality of Cocody in Abidjan and the City of Grenoble will host the 21st conference in December 2022.

Nominations will be discussed at the IOPD General Assembly to be held in virtual format on December 2, 2021.

To submit your application, you must send a mail before November 26 to info@oidp.net with:

• Letter from the political head of the local or regional government presenting the bid;
• General description of proposed contents of the conference (maximum two pages);
• General description of the technical and financial resources of the local government submitting the bid (maximum two pages) and the alliances desired to organize the event.
  

The following cities have organized the conference since 2001: Barcelona, Quezaltenango, Lille, Buenos Aires, San Sebastián-Donostia, Nanterre, La Paz, Reggio Emilia, Mexico City, Lleida, Porto Alegre, Cascais, Canoas, Madrid, Matola, Montreal, Barcelona, Iztapalapa and Cocody.

• Rules for the election of the host city of the conference and for the presidency of the IOPD 2023.
  
• The deadline for submitting a bid to host the conference is 26 November 2021.

Don't hesitate to contact us at info@oidp.net if you have any questions.